i just picked up a yamaha pz 480{ i dont know year?help} this is my first sled, so im new in the snow world. its bogging at take off , and graduly gets up to top speed. it doesent mis and it runs good at idle and top speed. if i play with the choke while driving it will start to run better and take off good, but then goes back to bogging when i stop playing with choke. seems to me that its starving for gas. whats the do's and dont's if i rip into the carbs to clean. can anyone help me on the carb adjustment ?. i have worked with many lawn and garden, and auto carbs, but this is my first snowmobile. can you guys also help me maitain this sled....does the track need to be serviced or lubed before riding? what do i need to look for before riding? also, it has no brakes? where do i begin?

thanks

Get your carbs cleaned and adjusted, put in new spark plugs, drain the old gas and put new gas in the tank. Check all fluids. Grease your suspension zerks. Brake pads might be shot. Be sure that your drive belt is in good shape before every ride. Buy yourself a service manual and you will learn alot.

shortstops list would be great to get over before doing any serious riding, but its your carbs and gas that is probably giving you your problems,,, the carbs can be pulled and cleaned pretty easily, and get rid of the old gas and put new fresh gas in,,, possibly change your filter,,,

Getting the carbs off the motor is really the more difficult thing. Once they are off just basic knowledge on how they work and the 4 circuits that need to be cleaned. If your careful you can do it without any issue. Chances are they have never been cleaned. If that is the case take your time and get all the varnish of the bowls and make sure all the air jets are clean (The ones you see if you look into the horn of the carb from the front on the lower right side).

Once you get it back together you should have a great trail sled. I ridden many miles on phazers. If you describe the sled in detail we might be able to tell you what year it is. Coloring and it may have a build date stamped into the tunnel.

No Brakes? Good thing it's bogging :D
Seriously though, good advice so far. We had a Phazer awhile back and it was one of the most reliable sleds we ever owned.

I had the same problem with my phazer and tried everything and couldn't figure it out. Turns out that someone had broken the case bottom and tried to repair it with J B weld. worked for a while after I bought it but the gas and oil got to it and the hole opened up. This stops the engine from being able to create suction on the fuel pump at low RPM's. Same thing once up to speed no problems, take offs sucked though. I would take the other advice first and clean the carbs it's easier than taking out the entire motor. It's really hard to check things like this out before you buy and I hope that's not your problem because it means an entire rebuild. Good luck :bash:

i plulled carbs off, and 1 was clean and working and the other one was wasted. all plugged up and lots of rust in bowl, i wonder why only one carb was bad????? i cleaned and threw them back on ,WOW. what a difference. i think i need some brakes now. the bad carb started to leak, i need to get new float, needle and seet. thanks guysOriginally posted by FuzzButt@Dec 28 2004, 10:08 AM
Getting the carbs off the motor is really the more difficult thing. Once they are off just basic knowledge on how they work and the 4 circuits that need to be cleaned. If your careful you can do it without any issue. Chances are they have never been cleaned. If that is the case take your time and get all the varnish of the bowls and make sure all the air jets are clean (The ones you see if you look into the horn of the carb from the front on the lower right side).

Once you get it back together you should have a great trail sled. I ridden many miles on phazers. If you describe the sled in detail we might be able to tell you what year it is. Coloring and it may have a build date stamped into the tunnel.
380572

did i do any damage to that 1 cylinder , if no gas/oil was getting to it????

A simple compression test would tell you if your rings and/or cylinder walls are decent. To check the piston, take the spark plug out and VERY GENTLY put a screwdriver down the hole (better than that is a piece of thin dowel or thin plastic rod of some sort), and touch the top of the piston. Run the screwdriver (once again VERY GENTLY) across the top of the piston to feel if you have a "dimple" in the centre. If you don't feel any indentation on the top of the piston, and the compression is consistant in both cylinders, it's probably ok. Better than the screwdriver method, is to just take the head off and take a look. The head gaskets are aluminum. There will be ridges in the headgasket from torqueing down the head. Just make sure you put the gasket back on the way it came off and it will seal itself again just fine.